"Bamboozle"
originally a slang or cant word, perhaps Scottish
from bombaze: "perplex,"
or Fr. embabuiner: "to make a fool
(baboon) of" (Online Etymology Dictionary);
"to deceive or get the better of (someone) by
trickery, flattery, or the like; hoodwink;
to practice trickery or deception (Random House Dictionary).
This Blog is one citizen's attempt to speak forthrightly
and to question those who
would bombastically deceive
and mislead the public.

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Tuesday, April 12, 2016

I have written about Ted Cruz before, and let me simply re-iterate some of what I said. It's important to understand that he is as dangerous as Mr. Trump. Perhaps he is more dangerous because he has a religious agenda outside the mainstream of Christian thought in this country and that religious agenda drives almost everything he says and does. It is certainly at least partially responsible for his penchant for driving his Senate colleagues to the brink. He doesn't care what they think because he undoubtedly believes that most of them will not be part of the religious elite who must take over and run our government in connection with the "Last Days."

Here are some of the tenets he holds:

Wikipedia reminds us that the term "Dominion Theology" is derived from the King James Bible's rendering of Genesis 1:28, the passage in which God grants humanity "dominion" over the Earth.‘And God blessed [Adam and Eve], and God said unto them, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth."

Many Christians "typically interpret this passage as meaning that God gave humankind responsibility over the Earth, but the distinctive aspect of Dominion Theology is that it is interpreted as a mandate… in civil affairs, no less than in other human matters."

Thus, “Dominion Theology or Dominionism is the idea that Christians should work toward either a nation governed by Christians or one governed by a conservative Christian understanding of biblical law” (not unlike Muslim belief about Sharia law!).

Some elements within the mainstream Christian Right have been influenced by Dominion Theology authors. Indeed, some writers have applied the term "Dominionism" more broadly to the mainstream Christian Right, implicitly arguing that that movement is founded upon a theology that requires Christians to govern over non-Christians. In the early 1990s sociologist Sara Diamond and journalist Frederick Clarkson defined Dominionism as a movement that is much broader in scope, extending to much of the Christian Right.

In his 1992 study of Dominion Theology and its influence on the Christian Right, Bruce Barron wrote,
“In the context of American evangelical efforts to penetrate and transform public life, the distinguishing mark of a Dominionist is a commitment to defining and carrying out an approach to building society that is self-consciously defined as exclusively Christian, and dependent specifically on the work of Christians, rather than based on a broader consensus.”

According to Diamond, the defining concept of Dominionism is "that Christians alone are Biblically mandated to occupy all secular institutions until Christ returns." In 1989, Diamond declared that this concept "has become the central unifying ideology for the Christian Right" in the United States. Journalist Chip Berlet added in 1998 that, although they represent different theological and political ideas, dominionists assert a Christian duty to take "control of a sinful secular society."

In 2005, Clarkson enumerated the following characteristics shared by all forms of Dominionism:
1. Dominionists celebrate Christian nationalism, in that they believe that the United States once was, and should once again be, a Christian nation. In this way, they deny the Enlightenment roots of American democracy.
2. Dominionists promote religious supremacy, insofar as they generally do not respect the equality of other religions, or even other versions of Christianity.
3. Dominionists endorse theocratic visions, insofar as they believe that the Ten Commandments, or "biblical law," should be the foundation of American law, and that the U.S. Constitution should be seen as a vehicle for implementing Biblical principles

Dominionists like Ted Cruz are playing a far different game than the usual representatives to Congress. They are focused on a biblical interpretation that most of us would not accept: that governments and power structures in this world must be transformed into Christian entities in preparation for the end of time and the Second Coming of Jesus the Christ.

Dominionism, says one Blog writer, Mike Nash, “simply means that Christians have the responsibility to take over every aspect of society and to govern solely in accordance with Biblical law. These Christians believe that until we have a theocracy, Jesus will be delayed in His return. In short, Jesus will come only after Christians succeed in establishing Christian rule over the earth.”

Consequently, Dominionists cannot be dissuaded from their views by mere politics or mere politicians. They view their mission as sacred, not mundane. They are committed to either a shut-down of secular governments world-wide, or to the take-over of national government by God’s “bankers” and “kings” -- presumably white, fundamentalist, evangelical Christians! Put Cruz's successful movement (and filibuster) to shut down the national government or defaulting on the national debt in this context and you will understand why he did not worry about what any of his colleagues had to say because his dominionist motives are much higher in his eyes.

If you don't know it already, you should know that Ted Cruz gets most of this philosophy and theology from his father, Pastor Rafael Cruz. Brandy Zadrozny of the Daily Beast writes, "A Cruz spokesman told Mother Jones, “Pastor Cruz does not speak for the senator.” But after hearing the elder Cruz speak earlier this year, Glenn Beck said, 'It’s easy to see that the fruit doesn’t fall far from the tree in the Cruz household.' Glenn Beck insists that Ted Cruz is God's pick for president. He's so sure, in fact, that he spent an entire segment of one of his radio shows responding to critics who suggested Cruz might not be the "divinely anointed" choice.

In the recent past, Rafael Cruz has given dozens of speeches and interviews that make some far-out, often offensive assertions, and although some of the quotes are dated, they are indicative of his belief system. The Daily Beast collected some of his craziest quotes and sentiments. Most of these quotes are inevitable results of what both Cruz's believe: that a righteous remnant or group of holy priests, kings and bankers will need to rule in every government before the Savior will make his Final Appearance. Below are some examples of the elder Cruz quotes matched up with some from his son. But the most telling quotes come from Ted Cruz himself: "I've really had two heroes in my life. My father and Ronald Reagan." And, in response to ads that attack his Christianity as well as his conservatism, Cruz responded: “I’m a Christian first, American second, conservative third and Republican fourth....” Just think for a moment of the outcry if a candidate of Roman Catholic (JFK perhaps) or Muslim faith (Rep. Keith Ellison) had said the same!

Father: Marxist Obama should go “back to Kenya.”

September 12, 2012
North Texas Tea Party Meeting
Rafael Cruz had a birther moment last year at a gathering of Texas Tea Partiers. “We have our work cut out for us,” he said. “We need to send Barack Obama back to Chicago. I’d like to send him back to Kenya, back to Indonesia.” He went on to say, “We have to unmask this man. This is a man that seeks to destroy all concept of God. And I will tell you what, this is classical Marxist philosophy. Karl Marx very clearly said Marxism requires that we destroy God because government must become God."

Ted Cruz:

I am blessed to receive a word from God every day in receiving the scriptures and reading the scriptures. And God speaks through the Bible.

God's blessing has been on America from the very beginning of this nation, and I believe God isn't done with America yet.

Father: The government is going to take all of your money and Obama has no problem with murder.
April 25, 2013
Hood County, Texas
In a speech before the local Tea Party, Cruz likened the United States under President Obama to Cuba under Castro, warned that the Obamacare “death panels” are coming, and said the government, which he called a “wicked rule,” wants to confiscate “our fortunes.”

Ted Cruz:How do we turn our nation around? President Obama thinks the answer is more and more government. Government is not the answer. You are not doing anyone a favor by creating dependency, destroying individual responsibility.

Pastor Cruz went on to lie about Obama’s record on abortion. “Do you realize,” he asked a room of conservatives, “the first bill President Obama signed into law was to legalize third trimester abortions?”

I have been proud to fight and stand for religious liberty, to stand against Planned Parenthood, to defend life for my entire career. And here are a few more of his comments that show his obsession with this issue:

July 5, 2013
FreedomWorks’ Free the People Event, Salt Lake City, Utah
In his State of the Union address, Obama said that if Congress refused to act on climate change, he would “direct my Cabinet to come up with executive actions we can take, now and in the future, to reduce pollution, prepare our communities for the consequences of climate change, and speed the transition to more sustainable sources of energy.” These words, Cruz said, are “the most ominous words I’ve ever heard.” Over shouts of “Tyranny!” Cruz said, “Not much different than that old bearded friend that I left behind in Cuba, governing by decree, by executive order, just like a dictator, like Fidel Castro.”

Ted Cruz: If I'm elected president, let me tell you about my first day in office. The first thing I intend to do is to rescind every illegal and unconstitutional executive action taken by Barack Obama.
Having principled men and women in office is how you protect yourself from tyranny, and that was something I learned from when I was 2, 3, 5 years old.

Father: Gay marriage is a government conspiracy.
August 10, 2013
Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa
Gay marriage, Cruz asserts, is a government plot to destroy the family and institute its socialist agenda. “Socialism requires that government becomes your god. That’s why they have to destroy the concept of God. They have to destroy all loyalties except loyalty to the government. That’s what’s behind homosexual marriage. It’s really more about the destruction of the traditional family than about exalting homosexuality, because you need to destroy, also, loyalty to the family.”

Ted Cruz: The Obama administration came into Utah and said, 'We're not going to listen to what the U.S. Supreme Court said. 'We, the federal government, are going to recognize marriages in the state of Utah and Utah state law explicitly does not recognize as marriage,' and that was really, in my view, an abuse of power.

We need leaders who will stand unapologetically in defense of marriage.

There is a liberal fascism that is dedicated to going after believing Christians who follow the biblical teaching on marriage.

While I believe Cruz's Dominionism is by far the primary reason that Cruz is more dangerous to our democracy than Trump is not to say that Cruz doesn't possess other negative values that should be avoided at all costs. Consider the following list:

Cruz believes in carpet bombing the ISIS enemy wherever they might be found (preferably in Muslim countries) in spite of the known collateral consequences of such bombing

He wants the U.S. Senate to be full of people who fight against civil rights: “It’s every bit as true now as it was then,” Cruz said. “We need 100 more like Jesse Helms in the U.S. Senate.He wants to secure the borders and prevent illegal immigrants from gaining citizenship: In my view, any bill that insists upon that jeopardizes the likelihood of passing any immigration reform bill,” Cruz said. "We need to finally secure our borders, enforce our laws, and stop the problem of illegal immigration."

He’s confused about climate change, saying global warming is not supported by data:“You know, back in the ’70s -- we were told there was global cooling,” he tellsCNN.“And everyone was told global cooling was a really big problem. … The problem with climate change is there’s never been a day in the history of the world in which the climate is not changing.”

He wants to ban federal same-sex marriage: “If the citizens of the state of Iowa or the citizens of the state of Texas want to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman … the states have the constitutional authority to do so and the federal government and unelected judges cannot set aside the democratically elected legislature’s reasonable decisions to enact and protect traditional marriage,”Cruz told radio host Jan Mickelson.

Right to education: public, private, charter, or homeschool. (Mar 2015)

Local control of education instead of Common Core. (Mar 2015)

Facilitate school choice for poor Americans. (Jan 2014)

Education decisions best made at local level. (Jun 2012)

Block funding for Common Core; it's too heavy-handed. (Apr 2014)

On Foreign Policy:

Break diplomatic relations with Cuba. (Mar 2016)

Neutrality on Israel is moral relativism. (Feb 2016)

If Mideast strongmen still in power, better for US interests. (Oct 2015)

Don't let world courts bind American sovereignty. (Sep 2015)

Law of the Sea Treaty undermines US sovereignty. (Jun 2015)

Vigorous sanctions against Putin; help eastern Ukraine. (Jul 2014)

America is indispensable; our allies need our leadership. (Jun 2014)

There is much more, of course, but we've run out of space, and we can take another look at Cruz and his beliefs at another time. One thing is clear: this man must not become President of these United States. And YOU and I, my friends, must help bring about that negative outcome for him!